


keep my distance

by trouvailleamor



Series: Community: The Adventures of a Season 7 [2]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, Love, Romance, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 05:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11891457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trouvailleamor/pseuds/trouvailleamor
Summary: Annie and Jeff are hours apart. Can they make their new relationship work?





	keep my distance

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own these characters :)

Jeff woke up on Monday morning to his shrill alarm and a text from Annie. One was decidedly better than the other. 

_Hey Jeff, can you Skype tonight around 7 your time? I miss you.  
-Annie Edison_

Jeff smiled and wondered how long she contemplated about sending that text before she actually did. He should tell her that she doesn’t have to worry, that she always says the exact right thing anyway. 

Soon after, he was texting her back.

_I can. I miss you too.  
-Jeff Winger_

~~~~

It was the longest day of his life, he was sure of it. It started with him being bombarded with questions from the Dean about Annie. After that, the Greendale rumor mill was in full swing, and his class consisted mostly of students asking about it. Annie had left recently, and most of them remember her very well.

After enduring the torture of Garrett asking about his sex life for an hour, Jeff hit an enormous amount of traffic. As the street was in a standstill, some jerk side-swiped his car and took out his side mirror.

Needless to say, he was pretty much completely shot by the time he got home. He just wanted to take a long shower and go to sleep…

But then he remembered about his plan with Annie. 

He couldn’t believe that he had forgotten, especially considering that it was the thing that had gotten through his ridiculously long class with Garrett. He checked his watch. It read 8:00.

He cursed as he ran into his bedroom to find his computer. As he opened it, he got a notification from Skype saying that he had 2 missed calls from Annie, both ten minutes apart. He swore again, calling her back quickly. As the dial tone rang he jumped up in front of his mirror in an attempt to make himself look a bit more presentable. 

But it didn’t matter. She didn’t pick up. 

~~~~

Jeff woke up on Tuesday morning in a particularly sour mood. His alarm was blaring and he didn’t have a text from Annie. He groaned and rolled over, silencing his alarm. He sunk deeper into his bed…

He woke up a second time to his phone ringing. It’s his landline this time. He’d forgotten he still had a landline. He only got it because he didn’t want to give the Dean his cell phone number. Suddenly, he shot up and whipped his head to look at the clock. 11:30 AM. 

“Shit!” He said to himself. He spent the next few minutes running around his apartment, getting ready. Once he finished though, he slumped down into his couch and dialed Greendale’s number. His class starts at 11. He’s too late anyway. 

He spent the rest of his day sitting in the same place, drinking scotch and praying that he wouldn’t get fired. Frankly though, he wasn’t too worried about the last part. It’s Greendale, and the Dean certainly loves him too much to let him go. 

Later that night, he climbed into his bed and shoved his face into his pillow. Maybe he was wishing it would smother him. He sighed. He was definitely going through a rough patch. 

As he was drifting off to sleep, his phone buzzed by his head. He ignored it.

~~~~

Jeff woke up on Wednesday morning in an even worse mood than the day before. He was up and ready an hour before he even had to leave. He was eating breakfast when he remembered his phone vibrating the night before. He checked it, bracing himself for an email from Greendale featuring his termination. Instead, there was a text from Annie.

_I’m sorry we missed each other. Want to try tomorrow night? Same time?  
-Annie Edison_

He couldn’t stop the smile from creeping up his face. Even when he felt like the world was imploding around him, Annie was always there to help him fix it. 

The rest of his day went a whole lot smoother than the rest of his week had been. The Dean was not really all that angry, especially after Jeff promised to eat lunch with him in his office. Garrett left him alone, especially after Jeff brought up his barely legal marriage. There was virtually no traffic on his ride home. It seemed like the universe was finally working with him.

As soon as he got into his apartment, he ran to his computer and immediately dialed Annie on Skype. After a nerve-wracking thirty seconds, she picked up. 

“Hello?” She yawned.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” Jeff said. It was only audio; he couldn’t see her face.

“It’s okay.” She didn’t say anything for a while, and then she finally coughed. “Jeff…”

It was her uneasy voice. The one where she expresses her concern. The one where she’s in doubt.

“Yes?” 

“Is this a good idea? I mean, we keep missing each other and when we catch each other, I’m always half asleep.”

Jeff didn’t respond. He was terribly conflicted. On the one hand, of course he didn’t want to let Annie go. But on the other, he definitely doesn’t want her to be unhappy. 

“Jeff?” She asked, a hint of anxiety in her voice. 

“I’m here, sorry. And, it’s to you Annie. Whatever is going to make you happy.” Jeff closed his eyes and waited for her to answer.

“None of this makes me happy,” She whispered. 

They sat in silence for about 5 minutes, tension and sadness rising as every second passed. Jeff couldn’t stand it anymore. “Um, I have to go. I have to grade papers. But I’ll talk to you… soon,” He said.

“Okay,” She let out another yawn. “Goodbye Jeff.”

The call disconnected.

~~~~

Jeff floated through Thursday in a haze. He doesn’t remember most of it.

~~~~

Jeff wakes up on Friday morning to a pillow hitting his face. He is so disoriented that it takes him a good minute to figure out what was going on. When he finally comes to, he sees Britta standing over him with an angry expression on her face. 

“Wha-“ 

“You’re trying to set me up with Duncan?” She says, whacking him again. 

“How did you get in here?” He asks, which leads to one more swift hit across the face. 

“Do not get involved in my love life!” She says, kneeling on the bed next to him.

“Oh, that’s rich coming from you. And I was just trying to help! Duncan really likes you and you guys have a lot in common. Now, how did you get into my apartment?” He asks.

“It doesn’t matter if he likes me. He’s so…” She starts.

“Yeah. And you’re so…” Jeff says, causing Britta to hit him once more. 

“Stop it. We are not going to talk about Duncan. I want to talk about you now.”

He should have known it was coming. It wouldn’t be a conversation with Britta if she wasn’t going to try to weasel into his brain. 

“How’s it going with Annie? I saw you guys when we were leaving her house.”

He groans and rolls over, facing away from her. He really didn’t want to talk about her right now. But Britta being Britta, she pushes him further. 

“Is something wrong?” She asks him.

“Nothing that I’m going to go into. Now please let me have the ten minutes of my day where I’m not thinking about Greendale. The best part of my day, if I’m being honest.”

Britta rolls her eyes. She knows that he doesn’t mean it. She stands up and looks down at him. “Don’t let yourself overthink this. Annie likes you. You like her. That’s really all that matters, right? The idea that you need to wait for the exact right moment to try to make it work is wrong. All you need is a little bit of effort,” She says. Jeff turns over to look at her.

“That was surprisingly profound,” Jeff raises his eyebrows.

“Yeah well, I can’t take full credit. I owe most of it to a fortune cookie I got in my takeout last night,” Britta smiles, making her way toward the door. “Also, you left your window open. I climbed up the fire escape.”

“Creepy…” Jeff mutters as she leaves, going out the normal way this time. He knows she’s right about Annie. He doesn’t want to lose her.

So he pulls out his phone and forms a text.

_Hey Annie. I know we’ve had a hard time connecting this week, but I don’t think we should give up. I want you to be happy. I want to make you happy. Let’s give this a try for real. Tomorrow night at 7 my time?  
-Jeff Winger_

**Author's Note:**

> So sorry this took so long! The length between posts are probably going to grow because school is starting! Please comment and tell me what you think!


End file.
